Flatbreads with Creamy Red Pepper Scallion Spread

The inspiration for this was pretty straightforward: I saw a blonde lady on the Cooking Channel make something just like it! And it just so happened I had some dough that I was going to use for pizza, but a flatbread became a much better idea. After all, it’s springtime! My grill was calling to me and the thought of lots of fresh greens over a creamy, springy spread sounded too good to resist.

But what’s the difference, really, between a dressed up flatbread and a pizza? Not much, I suppose. I could easily call this a grilled pizza and not get too many sideways glances. But it probably comes down to this: I call something a flatbread when it’s shaped all funny and the toppings are added after the dough is baked instead of before.

The end result is perfect for an evening around the picnic table, or fire escape, or wherever you may be (but definitely try to eat outdoors.) A beautiful charred bread, all aromatic and crispy outside, made especially so from a handful of cornmeal. The spread is nicely thick, creamy and garlicky, but still light and refreshing with bits of red pepper and scallion. It’s a cinch to put together in the food processor! Sort of ends up like a vegetable cream cheese, so if you’re in the market for something to put on your bagels, this may be your answer. And on top is a lightly dressed salad (totally casual – olive oil and lemon), making this meal perfectly seasonal, fun to eat and pretty as all hell to look at. I also threw on a few toasted walnuts because everything should have toasted walnuts.

Notes

~Bread flour is a newer pantry ingredient for me. Usually I use all-purpose because it’s always on hand in my kitchen, and probably yours, too. But I love the crusty chewiness that higher-protein bread flour gives flatbread, and so if it’s not an ingredient you usually keep on hand, give it a shot and see what you think! The difference might be just enough to convince you to keep it around always for emergency pizzas.

~ What I really love about this rustic flatbread method, is that you don’t hafta’ worry too much about getting perfectly shaped breads. Aim for something oval, and whatever happens after that is beautiful serendipity. The dough is nice and firm, too, so the trip from countertop to grill top isn’t incredibly harrowing. It should make it there in one piece and without too much trouble.

~There are so many fun things you can do with flatbread, it quite literally can be your canvas! Try it with edamame pesto, romesco sauce or even hummus. Top with arugula or kale or really anything in the world you can think of. Throw on some olives, toasted pine nuts, chopped sausages, tempeh bacon…google it up and see what other people are doing, steal those ideas, transform them and come up with your own enticing creations.

~ I knead bread in a standing mixer, but of course, you can knead by hand! It will take a bit longer, naturally.

~ Medium grind corn meal is used here. The coarse grind is a bit too grainy for me and the fine ground is hardly detectable. But if you don’t see what size grind your cornflour is on the package, don’t sweat it, it’ll come out yummy no matter what.

~ If you prefer to bake the breads, you can do so in a 450 F oven, for 12 to 15 minutes. Place directly on a baking stone for the crispiest results, but a large baking sheet will work, too!

~ For the best time management, make the spread while the dough is rising. It’s as easy as throwing together hummus.

Ingredients

For the Flatbread:

1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup warm water

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the bowl

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

2 cups bread flour (or a little less, see directions)

1/2 cup medium grind cornmeal

1 teaspoon salt

For the Scallion Spread:

1/2 cup cashews (unroasted)

2 cloves garlic

1 pound extra firm tofu, drained

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil (optional, but it makes it a bit more creamy)

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

3/4 teaspoon salt

Fresh black pepper

1 cup chopped scallions

1/2 a red bell pepper, seeds removed, chopped

For the salad:

6 cups baby mixed salad greens

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

Big pinch salt

To serve:

A handful of toasted walnuts

Additional thinly sliced red bell pepper (the remainder of the half you used for the spread)

Directions

Make the spread:
In a food processor, chop the cashews into coarse crumbs. Add the garlic and pulse to incorporate. Crumble the tofu in your hands and drop it in. Add the lemon juice, olive oil (if using), nutritional yeast, salt and pepper and blend until relatively smooth, a little texture from the nuts is great.

Add the scallions and red pepper and pulse until they’re chopped into tiny bits. You don’t want them to be completely pureed, make sure that there’s some crunch from the red peppers.

Taste for salt and seasonings. If it needs anything else, don’t puree again, just remove the blade, scrape everything into the bowl and gently mix in with a fork. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Make the flatbreads:
Add water and sugar to the bowl of a standing mixer fit with a dough hook. Sprinkle in the yeast and let sit for 5 minutes to bloom.

Mix in the olive oil then Add one cup of the flour along with the salt. Mix on low until well incorporated, and then turn the speed up to medium and mix for 3 minutes.

Add another 1/2 cup of flour and the 1/2 cup of cornmeal, and mix well, starting on low and then switching to medium speed. Then add another 1/2 cup of flour, again starting on low and switching to medium. Knead on medium for about 5 minutes. You may occasionally have to get in there with your hands if the dough starts climbing up the hook. It should become smooth and elastic and slightly tacky. At this point, incorporate flour by the tablespoon, with the mixer running. When it starts to seem dry, stop adding flour. This could be anywhere between 1/4 and 1/2 cup. Knead again on medium until it is elastic easy to stretch, about 8 more minutes.

Meanwhile, drizzle about two tablespoons of olive oil into a large mixing bowl. The dough will double in size, so make sure you have enough room. Form the dough into a ball and place in the bowl, tossing it around to coat with oil. Cover the top in plastic wrap and put in a warm place. Let dough rise for about an hour, or until doubled in size.

When dough has doubled, fire up your grill. Keep the flame high and close the lid. If you have a thermometer, it should be at about 500 F.

Punch the dough down, give it a quick knead and tear it into 4 equal-ish pieces. On a large cutting board, form each piece into an oval that is about 8 inches long and 5 inches across. I just use my hands for this, but you can use a rolling pin if you prefer.

Place the dough on the grill. It should take about 3 to 4 minutes for the bottoms to get grill marks and become firm. If it takes a little longer that’s cool, but definitely check one after 3 minutes. Use tongs to flip the bread over and cook for another 2 minutes or so, until grill marks appear.

Remove breads from the grill with tongs and place on the large cutting board. Keep covered with a kitchen towel to keep warm until ready to use.

Prepare the salad:
At the last minute so that they’re as fresh as can be, use a large bowl to toss the salad greens with lemon, olive oil and a big pinch of salt.

Assemble:
Use the back of a spoon to spread the Scallion Spread onto the flatbread. Top with handfuls of dressed greens and scatter on toasted walnuts and red pepper, if desired. Slice in half with a pizza slicer, if you like, and serve! (Confession: we did not slice these in half, we just gobbled them down.)

89 comments to Flatbreads with Creamy Red Pepper Scallion Spread

love that scallion spread! and the gorgeous rustic flatbread.. i am a sucker for good easy breads:) this is perfect for bbq season!

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My boyfriend is allergic to every single kind of nut in the world. I am gonna make this and eat it in front of him and tell him how good it is. Maybe I will thow him some scraps of bread. But probably not.

I have been eating vegan for almost a week now and this blog as well as Veganomicon have been lifesavers. I have never known how to cook and now that I will be 40 this year, I figured now is a good time to start. Also thank you for all the suggestions for substitutions. Instead of spending tons of money on recipe ingredients, you help me figure out how to use what I’ve got. I have made some culinary mistakes since starting but have had far more successes. For example, I didn’t cook my garbonzo beans for hummus and made it anyway not knowing why the consistency was off. I also tried your sunflower mac recipe and obviously made a mistake with the sauce but am quite unsure what I did wrong. Both items are still in my fridge because I didn’t want to waste them. I looked at this recipe and included both ‘mistakes’ into the food processor for the spread. It turned out quite amazing. I may turn out to be a good cook yet!

These look fabulous. I think flatbread is more summer appropriate then pizza somehow with the cool ingredients on top 🙂 Oh..and little tip to save on buying bread flour- just add about a tablespoon of vital wheat gluten to every cup of all-purpose and it’s ready made bread flour great for recipes like this!

This looks beautiful! I’m so excited to make it on our grill.
Regarding bread flour, as I understand it the difference between bread flour and all purpose flour is the higher gluten content. Since I always keep some vital wheat gluten around for making seitan, burgers, etc. I just add about 1/2 – 1 tablespoon of gluten flour for each cup of flour to make the flour I already have on hand bread-friendly with that extra delicious chew you mentioned. I put the gluten flour in the bottom of my measuring cup and add regular flour to fill it to a full cup. Use 1 whole tablespoon per cup of whole wheat flour, your whole wheat bread will rise much better and be less dense with the extra gluten. All purpose flour might need a bit less, but I’ve experimented less with this since I usually make whole wheat. Happy baking (and grilling)!

I made it. I am the main cook for my wife of 57 years. We are getting to be old vegans. We both loved it. I follow you every day on flip board. We are going to be in New York May 29 to June 1. Can you recommend a good vegan restaurant near prospect park in Brooklyn?

Wow, I had this this yesterday and then spent all of today looking forward to having it again for tea tonight. I made the scallion spread and prepped the leaves exactly as stated in the instructions and the were gorgeous. Being a tad on the lazy side, when it came to make the flatbread I just put all of the ingredients in my breadmaker and set it for the 45 minute pizza dough programme. The dough came out very sticky so I think I’ll use a little extra liquid next time. Being in rainy old England I didn’t have the option for using and outside grill so used a griddle pan (been unused in the cupboard for well over a year!) and the bread came out GORGEOUS. It only needs a few minutes on each side and ends up all cool and stripy looking. I split the scallion spread (it too is gorgeous) into four portions and then realised that there is a lot more than you need – but hey, some carrot sticks will soon sort that problem out.
Never before have I made something that looks as good as it does in the picture. Can’t wait to have more tomorrow.
The dough seems to keep well in the fridge.
I’m thinking about swapping the tofu for butter beans next time to make it super cheap and storecupboardy too.
I’ll be quiet now.

This is absolutely tasty. I used naan instead of making flat bread. I used spinach, tomatoes, red peppers and cilantro in the salad. I sprinkled smoked tofu on top. OMG this is so delicious, I could eat the whole thing but that would be gluttonous. lol

The bread was so delicious. I had a finer cornmeal and it made for a really great texture in the bread. We were a little too lazy to fire up the grill outside, so I just used a cast iron grill on the stove and it was fine.

The spread is amazing too, it is the perfect replacement for veggie cream cheese.

YES! I have a bunch of cashews and tofu in the fridge and after making portabella pizzas today, was contemplating making something to this extent. Whaddaya know, I also have a big ol bag of scallions. Flat bread here we come. Thank you Isa!!!

Me n hubbie adore u Isa! We have tons of vegan cookbooks but if it wasn’t for you it would be so very very much harder to be vegan as we’d be relyingon convenience vegan foods a lot more… N they expensive! Your recipes make me seem a good cook… Thanks. Just to let you know you are very appreciated here in Endgland too xx

This recipe was amazing! All my omni friends loved the scallion spread and couldn’t believe it had *gasp* tofu in it! And the flat bread was quick and delicious! Thanks so much for post yet another great recipe!

This was really delicious. I do have one complaint though. The spread, while awesome, makes way too much. I could easily get 8, but probably 12 servings out of it. I plan my menus a week in advance, so unexpected leftovers either go uneaten, or mean something else does. I don’t know how long this will keep, but I suspect a large part will get thrown away. Shame too because it really is good.

I just made the spread and it is delightful. I have your basic sausage recipe steaming up right now. Tomorrow I am making the flat bread recipe with the spread, salad, and sausage crumbles. I can’t wait. 🙂 Thank you.

Awesome recipe! We didn’t have cashews so substituted a mixture of pine nuts, pistachio nuts & sunflower seeds (also didn’t have walnuts so sprinkled with sunflower seeds) & this was YUM! We had loads of the spread leftover, which made a great sandwich filling throughout the week. Definitely making again.

I made this last night and it. was. AMAZING! I plan to make them again this weekend when we have guests over. I may just make them next week again too lol Thanks so much for a fabulous something that fills my pizza void (newly vegan here), and is incredibly fresh and healthy and yummy and not too hard to make. Fab!

[…] dipping, snacking. When I was testing this recipe, Isa at the Post Punk Kitchen posted about grilled flatbreads with red pepper spread, so consider that additional inspiration for your flatbread adventures! decorated simply and ready […]

Isa, this was so good–too damn good. My man thought the flatbread on the grill would be a disaster, but nope, it turned out perfect. I made a pesto spread as a second choice to your creamy (very creamy) cashew and tofu one, and everyone preferred yours. We all ate and ate until we could eat no more. There’s plenty of the spreads left for dipping poolside tomorrow.

[…] Pizza seems to be the hot new thing for grilling, and if you’re vegan or lactose intolerant, you might feel a bit left out. No more! I offer you this recipe for delicious grilled flatbreads with a GREAT cheezy spread. […]

Made this last night and it was fabulous! I didn’t have a stand mixer, so I just kneaded by hand for about 10 minutes, adding flour a little at a time till it wasn’t sticky anymore. I also used rapid rise yeast so no need to wait the 5 minutes at the beginning. One departure was to use firm tofu vs. extra firm because that was all I could find. It tasted great, but I wonder if the extra firm would have made the spread have a thicker consistency. Mine was a little loose. Lots of spread leftovers, so will eat with veggies and crackers. Yum!

I made the “spread” and the family went nuts over. The recipe makes a lot but it did not last long at all.
It is just as good (better, really) as the vegetable cream cheese spread at the bagel shoppe. My son-in-law said that he was spreading it on everything. Stuffed celery, husband had it on crackers. pita chips so so good. Printing this one to go in the back of Veganomicon. By the way, made sausage & peppers with your amazing sausage recipe and served it at a church supper. Didn’t say a word about vegetarian/vegan. Just let everyone go at it. Loved it.

I made this tonight and it was absolutely amazing and super easy–my non vegan fam loved it! Any ideas on what to do with scallion spread leftovers though?? Although if I have to make MORE flatbread and greens, not sure I will complain(; Thanks!

This scallion spread was wildly successful at a picnic I took it to this week! I couldn’t believe it! So many people (including the author of 2 cookbooks) asked for the recipe, which I sent them. Thank you!

[…] dipping, snacking. When I was testing this recipe, Isa at the Post Punk Kitchen posted about grilled flatbreads with red pepper spread, so consider that additional inspiration for your flatbread adventures! decorated simply and ready […]

[…] done that in quite a while. Today I discovered the answer to my love. Yesterday I made the creamy red pepper scallion spread from a ppk post from a few months ago. I’m not sure how well it actually works on flatbread (more on that […]

This is pretty much the most crazy delicious thing ever. Yeah, I ran several miles today and was almost gonna eat my arm (if only it were vegan), but I’m glad I waited because this was totally the belle of the ball (the ball on my tastebuds). I have tons of the spread left over and I cannot wait to use it in a wrap tomorrow for lunch. Thank you guys so so much.

oh my gosh that looks delicious! However, I am allergic to cashews. Is there any way to substitute almonds for the cashews and get similar results? My fiancee and his son, who I just moved in with, are dairy free (I’m not but trying to learn) and I’d love to figure out a way to make these without a trip to the ER. Thanks!

I finally just got a chance to make these. We used our griddle to “grill” them and add the sexy grill marks. We are eating them now.. Oh my.. SO GOOD! We will have to make this a staple meal in our house. Thanks so much for the recipe!

I NEVER comment on recipes but we cooked these on the grill last night and what an incredible result …. I’m still thinking about them. I was so shocked that flatbread could be easily grilled like this but I was proven wrong. The toppings can vary widely but this bread recipe is great. I used agave nectar instead of sugar and let the bread rise all day long (maybe 4 hours), also I added 2 T of vital wheat gluten to all purpose flour as recommended below instead of bread flour. AMAZING!

They sell this at the San Francisco Ferry Bldg Farmers Market (but they use dairy based cheese). What I love though is they use the roasted walnut and capers and heirloom tomatoes! Yummy!! I put a photo on my site of it in fact. http://www.FlowervineFarm.com under Eat Your Plants menu.

Made these last night. It was 100 degrees out, but I didn’t want salad. This seemed like a great compromise! I don’t have a grill, but I was able to cook the flatbreads on a grill pan on the stovetop (I put a cookie sheet on top to help hold the heat in). They cooked up perfectly, with gorgeous grill lines! And it was much cooler than heating up the whole oven to 500 degrees like I do for normal pizza! I’m glad I read the other comments, because I grabbed some bagels as well to spread the extra cashew/tofu deliciousness on! I will enjoy those for breakfast later this week.

made it tonite, was super tasty! made some tasty flatbreads with whole wheat and rye (3/4 / 1/4), quickly sauteed the scallions before mixing them and added some rucola in the spread while mixing. meow, super nice, thank you!